The largest position, Berkshire Hathaway is at a
whopping ~49% of the portfolio.

This quarter saw a ~15% increase in Berkshire
Hathaway and corresponding decrease in Microsoft.

Gates Foundation portfolio value increased this quarter from
$23B to $25.75B. Over the years, the portfolio has become extremely concentrated.
In their first 13F filing in 2002, they had about 27 positions and the total
portfolio value was ~$1.8B. Currently, the portfolio is well over ten times
that while the number of positions has gone down to just 17.

Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.B): BRK.B is by far the largest stake at 43.53% of the portfolio. The
original position is from Q3 2006 at a cost-basis in the mid-60s. The size of
the stake peaked at ~87M shares in Q4 2012 and the current position is at ~69M
shares. The position has wavered. This quarter saw a ~15% stake increase as the
stock traded between $169 and $184. The stock currently trades at ~$215.

Waste Management
(WM):WM was a very small ~1.2M
share position during their first 13F filing in Q3 2002. The current position
is at ~18.6M shares (5.66% of the portfolio). The bulk of the position is from
Q3 2009 when around 8M shares were purchased at a cost-basis in the high-20s.
2010 also saw a ~3M share increase in the mid-30s. Since then, the position has
been left untouched. The stock has almost tripled and currently goes for $88.56.

Canadian National
Railway (CNI): CNI is the fourth-largest stake at ~5.51% of the portfolio.
Since 2008, the position has remained remarkably steady at ~17M shares. The
bulk of the stake was built during the period from 2006 to 2008 at a cost-basis
in the low-20s. CNI currently trades at $78.50.

The spreadsheet below shows Gates Foundation’s holdings as
of Q3 2017. Please visit our previous
updates to get an idea on how the portfolio has progressed: